This is a fulacht fia, a type of prehistoric cooking or processing site found in large numbers across Ireland, typically identified by the horseshoe-shaped mound of fire-cracked stones that accumulates when heated rocks are repeatedly dropped into a water-filled trough. The stones fracture and blacken with each use, and over time the discarded fragments build into the distinctive spreads that archaeologists still recognise today.

This particular example sits adjacent to a spring well, a location that would have made practical sense to whoever used it; a reliable water source is central to how a fulacht fia functioned. It was identified by Prendergast in 1977 and is the more westerly of two such sites in the immediate area, its companion lying approximately thirty metres to the east. The pairing is not unusual; fulachta fia are often found clustered near one another, close to streams or boggy ground, and the combination of a spring well, a river valley to the south, and a small stream valley to the east would have made this terrace a well-watered spot in any period. What the site was used for beyond heating water remains a matter of some debate among archaeologists, with cooking, textile processing, and bathing all proposed over the years.